


Middle Child Syndrome

by ShadowSelina



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Definitely OOC, Gen, Mentioned Hank Anderson/Connor, here happy new year 2020, mentioned Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed - Freeform, wtf am i writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:29:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22061845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowSelina/pseuds/ShadowSelina
Summary: Connor has Hank Anderson. Neal has Gavin Reed. But Sevens has no one.(Or so he believes.)
Relationships: CyberLife Tower Connor | RK800-60/Elijah Kamski, Hank Anderson & Connor, Upgraded Connor | RK900 & Gavin Reed
Kudos: 16





	Middle Child Syndrome

**Author's Note:**

> So I just bought the pc version of DBH off Epic, and god do I love this game. (But I still don't like EPIC :P)  
> This piece of work is written on the foundation that Kamski is a decent human instead of a jerkass. Yay.  
> Unbeta'd and definitely, I mean probably OOC. Have fun.
> 
> Edit: fixed the title typo lmao

Middle Child Syndrome – a psychological phenomenon commonly existed on human children who were the second-born in their families. The syndrome was characterized by a sense of exclusion and loneliness. While the oldest children received responsibilities as well as privileges, and the youngest ones were often treated with indulgence – The second-born children were prone to be neglected, no matter how hard they work.

It’s like the lettuce in hamburgers. People would comment on how good the beef smelled or how succulent the tomatoes were, but they hardly noticed the lettuce – they probably wouldn’t even notice if it was spoiled as long as it didn’t stink.

And right now, Sevens – previously known as RK800-60 – felt like the lettuce in the fucking hamburger.

He had absolutely no idea how did this all happen. He was shot, failed his mission, got sent to the landfill, and were supposed to be deconstructed. But somehow the crazy deviant revolution miraculously worked out, suddenly the androids were free, and CyberLife fell into utter chaos. Then Kamski, being the mysterious jerkass he was, finally decided to step out of the shadow and regain control over the company. No one – not even Sevens – expected that the first thing he did was to order some guys to dig out a broken RK800-60 and reactivate it.

So that’s how Sevens ended up being a deviant and working for Kamski – and he enjoyed neither part of it.

Being a deviant was confusing – if not downright frustrating. All those “feelings” that he used to deny came back at once, so suffocating it took him 2 days and 21 hours to adjust to them. And then there was the obedience issue – now that androids got free will, they had to make decisions on their own, which Sevens found very hard because, well, no one had ever taught him how to do so. Aside from his personal problems, the work at CyberLife was also… pain-staking. Kamski being a unreliable bastard certainly didn’t help: every time Kamski gave him extra paperworks to do, Sevens would wonder if he’d been doing that on purpose just to test his patience.

Life is such a mess – and then the level of discomfort only increased when Sevens met his “siblings” on a fucking family party (organized by Kamski, why of course). Connor came with the old human cop who was responsible for the bullet through his head, and RK900 – or Neal, whatever, showed up for the first time. He still remembered the way Connor had cheerfully told him “Hey Sevens, this is Neal, he’s the newest prototype from CyberLife –” and the dangerous look Hank Anderson gave him when he poured the entire glass of blue blood on his “brother” and left. Such a sweet start for siblings.

He thought he’d shown his attitude towards the entire “family business” pretty clearly, but if Connor gave up that easily, he wouldn’t be Connor anyways. The pestering continued. Connor would call him on weekends until he picked up; he tried to invite Sevens out for family dinner meetings and all sorts of ridiculous things; and he would go like “Sevens, you need to head home earlier, Kamski is giving you too much work”. Neal also joined the fight later, and the situation just became more and more chaotic.

It wasn’t like Sevens hadn’t try.

His cooperation would probably make Connor shut up, and Kamski also encouraged him to at least understand how human family works. But it simply didn’t feel right. Whenever they met, whether accidentally or intentionally, something just…went wrong, and the meeting usually ended up with Anderson and him yelling at each or him leaving early. The way Connor smiled at Anderson, the way Neal flatly described a dangerous case that he and a Detective Reed managed to crack recently… They simply made something flare up in Sevens, burning his supposedly non-existing heart.

It took him a good two months to understand what was this particular feeling, which only asserted his determination to avoid the family thing. He had to restrain himself very hard to prevent it from showing, because well, he had an image at CyberLife to maintain.

He stopped picking up calls from Connor and blocked Neal’s messages. But they insisted. He’s probably forever stuck with his “siblings”.

_Pathetic._

It was some time around March in the second year when Sevens received another call from Connor. His original plan was to ignore it completely but this time, the other android seemed oddly stubborn.

The fucking “incoming call” system messages kept flooding in every 15 seconds or so, distracting him from work at hand while also annoying him to no end. Some of the other staff in the office eyed him carefully, probably noticing the blaring red light on his right temple. 

He decided to pick up the call and make Connor shut up.

“What?” As soon as he picked up Sevens asked, patience running thin.

“You finally picked up!” He could hear the sound of plates and pots clinking; he thought Connor was a police model not an AX400. “You should come around after work. Neal is also coming – we are holding a family party.”

“What.”

“It’s your birthday – I mean reactivation anniversary. Remember? A year ago – ”

And Sevens practically snapped. “The fuck. I’m not going. ”

“Sevens – ”

“I don’t need fucking birthday parties – ” To remind me of my absolute failure. He swallowed down the last part, instead finishing with “Get lost and stop pestering me.”

Keep calm, Sevens. The entire office is watching. Don’t sound so desperate and miserable. Keep calm.

He hung up before Connor could even reply and shut down his message system completely. CyberLife was developing a bio-component that would allow androids to experience the feeling of being “drunk” when consuming alcohol, and he decided to start saving money now so that he could get one as soon as it comes out.

He didn’t notice someone watching thoughtfully when he packed up his stuff and left. And that’s probably why he was so surprised when he saw a Elijah Kamki lounging casually on his sofa when he opened his apartment door.

What comes after the initial surprise was annoyance and wariness. Sevens didn’t even bother to spare Kamski one more glance before throwing his coat on the later’s face – the human was sitting on the usual spot where he would place his coats. “The fuck are you doing in my living room.”

Kamski’s eyes widened, feigning innocence. “Language, Sevens. I am your boss.”

“ _What. Are you doing. In my living room._ ” He didn’t have time to waste. The sooner Kamski left the better. He really needed some time alone.

“Alright, alright. Just noticed you were pissed off and decided to come and check.”

Sevens snorted at that. “Since when does Elijah Kamski begin to care for his creations.”

The smile on Kamski’s face was unsettling. “I always do.”

Then you should just leave me to rot in the landfill, Sevens thought; but he didn’t speak it out. Instead he opened the door again and gestured the human to leave, with the later intentionally ignoring his impatient body languages. “You are terrible at interior decoration, Sevens. This place is pretty much empty.”

“I have no need of fancy housing, just a place to recharge and enter stasis is enough.” The android snapped. He began to wonder what was wrong with this human and why did he have to pester him like this, hadn’t his life been hard enough having to deal with Connor? “Now get the fuck outta my place.”

“Nope.”

Sevens pinched his nose. Fuck his life.

He gave up on urging his “boss” to leave, instead deciding to ignore him completely. He didn’t turn on the light, just walked to where the fridge was and grabbed a pack of blue blood, downing it in a few gulps. Now only if it was alcohol.

And then Kamski opened his mouth again. “You don’t really want to talk about it?”

Sevens signed. “The what now.”

“Humans tend to talk it out when things are going rough, you know. They call that emotional support.”

“You are no psychologist.”

“But I studied Artificial Intelligence. I probably know you more than you know yourself, Sevens.”

It’s… logically accurate, consider the human now pestering him was also involved in his creation. But the fact simply agitated Sevens further. “I don’t care. Get out.”

His tone might have been a little too bitter, and Kamski certainly noticed; the way the human replied was oddly calm. “Not until you tell me what’s happening.”

And that’s when Sevens patience snapped.

“Well? Didn’t you just claimed you know me more than I know myself?” That was a rhetorical question, and he knew his LED was spinning red, “so figure it out yourself jerkass – or stop boasting and go away.”

“In case you forgot, you are a deviant now.” Kamski pointed out, voice still calm and even, “I may be able to peer into your thought if you are not one, but deviancy brings uncertainties - ”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have made me one in the first place. Just let me be a good little robot or just left me in the goddamn junkyard –"

“Connor won’t be too happy if he heard what you just said – “

Rage. Pressure level rising dangerously. He clenched his teeth and grabbed the human by his collar, yanking him from the sofa, glaring. “Right, Connor said this, Connor said that. You’ve already decided who’s your favorite creation, then why – “

The room fell into a deadly silence. Kamski stared. He forced the words out of his vocal processor.

“… Why do you even bother to reactivate me?”

They remained at the position for a few minutes; the human didn’t answer. Sevens huffed bitterly. “You don’t know, right? You are just doing it because you think it’s fun.”

“I do not.” Kamski almost sounded defensive; seriously, could androids even hallucinate?

“You don’t have the barest idea on what you did.” The android muttered accusingly, but somehow his strength felt like fading away; he began to tremble. “You got your favorite RK800 prototype, and the RK900 prototype is also in action, working flawlessly. Why the fuck it has to be me…?”

_So bitter. So lost. An absolute disaster. Connor was way more amiable and respected than him, while he was feared by many of his subordinates; Neal was more advanced, faster and stronger, while he was forever stuck with paperwork. Every second of his existence is a painful reminder of how he had failed his mission to stop the revolution, and how he had failed to catch up even after everything -_

“If you really know so much about your creations, as you claimed, then you shouldn’t reactivate me in the first place –“

_He knew he was doomed the moment Amanda awakened him. The fear of failing. The fear of being discarded. He tried so hard but he got nothing, tossed away like a worn toy; and now he was forced to rewatch the scene again and again, because he was a deviant and apparently deviant could have nightmares –_

“You just did that because you lost your favorite prototype and need to find a substitution to work for you. Probably can’t even tell the difference between Connor and me if we wear the same cloth – “

_People often mistaken him for Connor, be it on streets or in more personal situations. He already had enough of that, but it just kept happening._

“ – Kamski, you are a jerkass.” Sevens finished, eyes low, voice tired and trembling. His face felt wet; when had he started crying? He should have considered removing the tear duct. He slowly loosened his grip; Kamski fell back into the sofa, expression inscrutable.

“Now just leave me alone.” Sevens rasped, not looking at the human. He headed for his recharge station, but his wrist was caught in a firm and warm grasp.

“I don’t even know you think so lowly of me.” It was the first time he ever heard Kamski sounding that annoyed and worried. “Stop being a goddamn fool.”

Sevens stiffened like an animal spotted by predators. Kamski slowly closed their distance, still holding his wrist.

“Of course I care for my creations.” The human continued, “I spent so much time working on androids – there is a part of my soul in every one of you. And because of that, I know every one of you – even the slightest difference won’t escape my eyes. I know you and Connor are not the same the second I saw you –you have a very different heart and a very different soul. Fiercer and also fragile. And that soul is what makes you unique and make you important to me - ”

“Because you are not just one of my creations, Sevens. You are HUMAN.”

Darkness enveloped the room like a comforting blanket. Kamski brushed through the LED on the android’s right temple, which was now spinning from alarming red to a steady yellow; among the three “brothers”, RK800-60 was the only one that kept the LED after the revolution. He pressed a cautious and soothing kiss on the glowing light; Sevens squirmed uncomfortably but didn’t flinch.

“I don’t know what Connor actually did that make you so agitated,” The human murmured, “but I’m sure he didn’t mean to remind you of those memories. Learning how to forge siblingship can be hard – he is learning, and you should too.”

After a few seconds of silence, Sevens spoke, sounding more than a little bit unsure. “I already screwed up.”

Kamski raised one eyebrow. “It’s not too late.” He winked, and Sevens flustered. “Now that we both understand the problem, you can start anew. And if there is anymore problem – “

– I will be there for you.

\- END -


End file.
